In a rather sudden and surprising circular that was sent to senior members of the Kolkata-based Ananda Bazar Group, which brings out publications such as Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph, it was announced today that Group Editor Aveek Sarkar had resigned.
Though it was downplayed as “part of the succession plan”, there is more to Aveek babu handing over the reins of his group to his brother, Arup Sarkar, who, until today, was the chief editor of the Bengali magazines section.
Other big changes include the appointments of non-controversial Anirban Chattopadhyay as the editor of Anandabazar Patrika and Bengali tabloid Ebela and R Rajagopal as the editor of The Telegraph. Both Chattopadhyay and Rajagopal will report to Arup Sarkar.
Aveek babu, meanwhile, plans to take up an advisory role and becomes ‘editor emeritus’ and vice chairman of the company. He will look after only digital and ‘other’ initiatives, says a senior journalist from Kolkata, who read the circular.
The move, by most in Kolkata's journalistic fraternity, is seen as a last-ditch effort, not just to save face, but also the group’s falling fortunes. Aveek babu’s relentless campaigning against the ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal and his souring relations with party supremo Mamata Banerjee has dried up government advertisement for the group’s publications.
Even ABP Ananda’s exit polls had predicted a very narrow margin for Trinamool and the channel had almost deluded itself into believing that if you considered error margins, the Left actually had a slim chance of winning.
One of the Bengali magazines headed by Arup babu, on the other hand, had run an entire issue lauding Banerjee’s schemes and rural governance. It is with the hope that the younger brother will present a friendlier face to the government that the change of guard might have been initiated.
